Assessment of palliative care knowledge among undergraduate medical student

Abstract

Background Palliative care is essential for enhancing the quality of life of patients with terminal illnesses by alleviating their physical, psychological, social, and spiritual distress thoroughly. Despite its rapidly growing global concept, palliative care education remains inadequately integrated into the curricula of undergraduate students in several countries, including Saudi Arabia. This study sought to evaluate the extent of knowledge and awareness regarding palliative care among undergraduate medical students at King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa.

Methods: It was descriptive, cross-sectional research carried out from August to October 2025, including 394 undergraduate medical students. A basic random sampling procedure was used to choose the participants. A structured online questionnaire was used to collect data. The questions were based on and confirmed by prior research and included nine areas of expertise related to palliative care. We used Microsoft Excel to analyze the data, both descriptively and inferentially, to see how the participants answered.

Results: 53% of the people who answered were male, and 47% were women. Most respondents were aware of the meaning of palliative care, active care of the dying (73.4%). People still didn't comprehend what palliative care was very well. Moreover, over half (55%) thought it sped up death, and 61% of students thought morphine in end-of-life care was dangerous. While 85.3% of students concurred that those with metastatic disease require palliative care, hardly 44% recognized the necessity of providing such treatment to those afflicted with chronic noncancerous diseases. Understanding of the makeup of multidisciplinary teams was uneven, and many students wrongly thought that radiotherapists were important members.

Conclusion: Undergraduate medical students did not know enough about palliative care, especially how broad it is, how to utilize opioids, and how to function as a team. The results also show that Saudi Arabia needs to add organized palliative care learning to its undergraduate curriculum as soon as possible. Early exposure, simulation-based instruction, and interprofessional education may enhance competency and foster favorable attitudes towards end-of-life care.